


Pi Day

by agent85



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, F/M, Fitz Is a Gentleman, Gen, Pi Day, Pie Can Fix Anything, Playground Era, SciOps Era, Simmons Loves Homework More Than Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 07:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3561464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agent85/pseuds/agent85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fitzsimmons celebrate Pi Day. A belated tribute to my favorite fictional scientists and math enthusiasts everywhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pi Day

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated Pi Day! And St. Patrick's Day!

**March 14 th, 2004 **

**SHIELD SciTech Academy**

**Location: Classified**

 

Fitz groaned the moment he passed over the threshold. This place was loud, and crowded. With  _people_.

"Remind me why we're here again?"

He refused to look back at his friend, even when he felt an arm around his shoulder. 

"Girls, Fitz. Girls."

It was then that Fitz sneered at the lanky cadet, still in braces and practically drowning in dark, curly hair.

"I think you're forgetting that girls at the Academy aren't interested in seventeen-year-olds. I think the last girl I tried to talk to asked me if I had a bedtime."

"Ah!" his friend argued, holding up a finger, "well, that's you.  _I'm_  nineteen. Besides, that was on a  _normal_  day. This is Pi Day. Very different."

Fitz frowned. "What's so different about it?"

"Well, today, none of them are sober."

Fitz didn't argue the point, since the smell of cheap beer permeated the place, and somewhere at the other end of the apartment, someone was shouting out, "Two, six, five . . . uh, two, six, five . . . no, stop it! I know it, I sw-swear!"

Fitz raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think that hitting on drunk women is something becoming of a SHIELD agent."

"Ah, but that's the beauty of it!  _We're not SHIELD agents yet_!"

Something about his companion's particular brand of enthusiasm did not sit well with Fitz. But he did get a kick of watching him saunter up to a tipsy blonde, reach out a hand and say, "Hey, I'm Adam O’Keefe. Are you a carbon sample? Because I would date you," before getting a drink sloshed in his face.

To his credit, O’Keefe merely wiped himself off and looked for another target. Fitz shook his head, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do in this situation. It wasn't as if he'd ever get up the courage to even start thinking about chatting a girl up. He decided to keep an eye on O’Keefe instead, staying a few paces behind, so he would be far enough away to not intrude, but close enough to intercede if necessary. He brushed past a table where people were playing beer pong, though someone pulled him aside to explain to him (rather insistently) that this was actually Pascal's pong. Fitz could only guess at the rules, and if he was right, it explained why people seemed more plastered than usual. 

"Hey, Fitz," O’Keefe yelled over the din of voices, "is that who I think it is?"

Fitz followed O’Keefe's gaze to find none other than Jemma Simmons sitting in a corner, reading a book.

"What's she doing here?" asked O’Keefe.

Fitz shrugged. "Beats me. I didn't know she had a social life."

"What? I though you two were best friends. Inseparable."

"We're lab partners, O’Keefe."

"You sure about that?"

Fitz kept his eyes on her, trying to figure out how she could manage to concentrate in the middle of the madness.

"Fitz?"

"Hmm?"

"You really don't have anything going with Simmons?"

"What? No."

"So . . . you wouldn't mind if I gave it a try?"

Fitz pinched the bridge of his nose. "O’Keefe, I swear, if you say anything about unzipping her genes . . ."

O’Keefe put both hands up in surrender. "Whoa, whoa. You saw her first, so you've got dibs. I'll back off if you want."

"Dibs? That's not . . ." He let out a frustrated sigh. "She's a good girl, O’Keefe. She's my . . . my lab partner. I have to protect her from the likes of you, that's all. She's too nice to throw any drinks in your face."

O’Keefe merely huffed off and mumbled something about other fish. Fitz threw a cautious glance before working up the courage to approach Simmons.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, Fitz!" she exclaimed, looking up at him with a rather alarming sort of glee. "How nice to see you!"

Fitz tried to answer her smile with one of his own. "Yeah, I thought you never left the library on Sunday evenings."

"Well, my mum keeps telling me that I need to involve myself in social activities."

"I see."

"Yes, and since Riker invited me, I thought . . ."

"Wait, this is Riker's place?"

She stared at him for a moment, puzzled. "Didn't he invite you?"

"I don't think it's that kind of party. Well, not for the likes of me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know, they spread word around, and everybody ends up inviting everybody until the whole campus shows up." He looked around to see if Riker was lingering somewhere, but couldn't see him. "But you got a special invitation, so that sounds like a date. Which is strange, since you're sitting here alone, reading." Of course, he reminded himself, Jemma Simmons was a strange person. An amazing and extremely pretty person, but a strange person. "And it looks like no one's even gotten you a drink."

"Fitz!" She rolled her eyes at him. "We're seventeen. You know it's against the law to consume alcohol."

Fitz shrugged. "It's legal at home."

"But we're not at home, are we?" She huffed at him. "Honestly, Fitz. I'm rather disappointed in you. How do you expect to be able to follow orders as a SHIELD agent if you can't even obey the law? What are you smiling at?"

Fitz tried to suppress his grin. "I forgot how much you love rules. Studying and rules: your true passions."

"And science," she amended.

"And science."

He managed to get her to smile, which was no small feat for Fitz. It had taken months just to build up the courage to talk to her, then to function in a lab with her, and here they were, shooting the breeze at a party.

"Anyway," she said, "I don't think I'll be staying long. It's loud in here."

"It's better than the Boiler Room."

She shook her head. "Not really. There's more space in the Boiler Room. Here, people are just stumbling over each other."

Fitz shrugged. "My guess is that the alcohol is playing a part in that. People are getting sloshed around here."

"Speaking of which, I went to a lot of trouble to bake a cheddar crusted apple pie, and people can't seem to locate enough brain cells to be interested."

"You made a . . ." He felt his mouth watering. "There's a pie? Here?"

She rolled her eyes again. "Yes, of course there is, Fitz. Pi and pie. It's a play on words. But at this point, I think I'll just take my pie and turn in."

"If you need to get rid of a pie, I can help."

The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them, and all he could think is that if Jemma Simmons was as dedicated to a recipe as she was to, well, everything else, then this pie would likely be an out of body experience.

Simmons seemed to consider him a moment. "Do you promise that you are absolutely sober?"

Fitz put both hands up in a gesture that he hoped conveyed innocence. "Scout's honor. I barely got here."

"Hmm. Well, I guess that's alright. I wanted to ask you for your opinion on an idea I had anyway."

"Brilliant! I'm ready when you are." It was then that Fitz heard an indignant scream, and winced. "Actually, I came with a buddy, can I bring him along? I feel like leaving him alone would be . . . really stupid."

When Simmons nodded, Fitz ducked into the crowd until he found O’Keefe, who only needed to hear the words "pie" and "Simmons" before following Fitz back to Simmons and out of the apartment.

It took a little creativity, but Fitz was able to prevent O’Keefe from doing anything to make Simmons too uncomfortable. After the pie was destroyed and Simmons proposed an impromptu  _Doctor Who_  marathon, O’Keefe ended up asleep on the end of Simmons' couch. 

"Thanks for everything," Fitz said when he finally got up to leave. "This was nice."

She quickly stood up with him. "Yeah? I mean, you think so?"

Fitz eyed her for a moment. "Of course I do. Good food, good company, what else can a guy ask for?"

Simmons simply beamed at him for a moment, as if she was too overwhelmed to reply. Eventually, she said, "I guess . . . I don't know. Most guys, they expect  . . . anyway, you're such a good friend, Fitz. I'm glad I ran into you."

"Wait," he said, a bit dumbfounded. "I'm . . . we're friends?"

She gave him a puzzled look. "Yes, of course we are. You're my best friend at the Academy."

He had to stare at her for a moment to process this new information.

"I am? Then why don't I ever see you outside of the lab?"

She cocked her head to one side. "I suppose I don't know. Maybe we should change that?"

"Yeah," Fitz agreed, unable to keep from smiling, "yeah, that sounds . . . great. And I don't have to bring O’Keefe along, if you mind him. It could be just you and me if you want."

Simmons looked towards his sleeping friend, then back at Fitz. "I think that would be best. Your friend is rather . . . well, anyway, we are graduating soon, after all, and this time is perfect for forging new friendships, as you know. And since we're going to be working together at SciOps . . ."

"Wait, what's that about SciOps?"

She looked at him, questioning. "We're the youngest people to ever come through the Academy. And the smartest, objectively. And everyone knows that we're twice as smart together, so I've been talking to Agent Weaver, and she said she could make arrangements. Is that . . . is that alright with you?"

Fitz beamed at her. "Sounds perfect."

"Good," she said, and he thought she was fighting a smile of her own. "Now, how do we get this boy off of my couch?"

Fitz shrugged. "Beats me."

***

**March 14 th, 2010 **

**SciOps**

**Location: Classified**

 

"So," Fitz asked, rubbing his hands together, "what do we have today?"

Simmons rolled her eyes at him. "You know very well that I made a cheddar crusted apple pie, per your request."

He grinned at her. "Of course I requested it. It's a symbol of our undying friendship."

He heard her scoff, but as he looked over her latest masterpiece, he couldn't stop himself from grinning.

"O’Keefe gives his best, by the way," he said between bites.

"Who?"

"Adam O’Keefe. My old roommate at the Academy. He's working at the Triskellion now?"

Simmons shakes her head. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"He was there for our first Pi Day. He fell asleep on your couch?"

"Oh, yes." The annoyance in her voice was palpable. " _That_  Adam O’Keefe."

"Yes, that Adam O’Keefe. He's an old friend of mine now. Older than you."

She scoffs again. "You met him after we became partners!"

"Well, yes, but I didn't realize that we were friends until much later."

"That's because you're incredibly dense."

The moment seemed to deflate then, turning into a thoughtful silence.

"I can't wait until 2015," he finally said.

"Hmm? Why's that?"

"Because then it will be an ultimate Pi Day. Three fourteen fifteen."

"Well, speaking about the future . . ." She dipped her head suddenly, pulling at her fingers, "how would you feel about taking our field assessments?"

He held back a laugh. "Field assessments are for field agents, Simmons. We work in a lab."

"What if we worked in a lab out in the field?"

He stared at her for a moment, nearly gaping.

"I like our lab, Simmons."

"I know you do."

"Why would I waste my time taking a test I don't want to pass anyway?"

She gave him a knowing grin.

"I'll bake you another pie."

"Deal."

***

**March 14 th, 2015 **

**The Playground**

**Location: Classified**

 

Fitz lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and wondering at which point everything went wrong. Was it the moment he decided to keep Skye's changes from Jemma? Was it earlier, when he confessed his feelings in the pod? Or was it one of a thousand previous moments, when his lab-partner-turned-best-friend became something more? Either way, he'd been hurting her, and he felt bad about it, but he wasn't sure if what he did was wrong. After all, he was the only person who understood what Skye was going through, and other people (Jemma especially) were jumping to alarming conclusions.

He felt bad about lying to her, and even worse when he tried to apologize and somehow ended up yelling at her. Everything seemed like such a tangled mess, and he wasn't sure they'd ever find their way out.

He was about to drift into sleep when he heard a soft knock. He got up and scrambled to put some clothes on, but by the time he got to the door, no one was there.

But when he looked down at the floor, he found a plate with what could only be a very generous slice of cheddar crusted apple pie. When he picked up the plate, he found a note.

 

_Dear Fitz,_

_I hope I can still call you "Dear Fitz," since our friendship is apparently in the past tense these days. I thought I'd wish you a very happy ultimate Pi Day anyway._

_Your friend(?),_

_Jemma_

_P.S. For the record, I know that maybe I handled some things very poorly, but you’re just as dense as you’ve always been, so really things haven’t changed much._

 

He heard the plate clatter to the floor as he raced out of his room and ran down the hallway.

**Author's Note:**

> A while ago, I came across a Tumblr post speculating that Fitz's friend from the Triskellion (mentioned in 1x14) is the same guy in _Winter Soldier_ who is billed as "Launch Tech #1." I stole that idea, gave him a name, and put him at the Academy (and made him Irish in honor of St. Patrick's Day). So, Adam O’Keefe is technically a canon character. Thanks to whomever thought of this first.
> 
> Oh, and I haven't tried it, but here's the recipe for [cheddar crusted apple pie](http://www.marthastewart.com/340605/cheddar-crusted-apple-pie).


End file.
